April Fool's, Halt!
by Unfocused and Confused
Summary: Halt refuses to believe in April Fool's. Will some encouragement from his closest friends change that? Set between book 1 and 2. OOCness is here. I think, anyway. Oneshot.


**Haha! I get to do the holiday story this time!**

**I've hit writer's block in bash and whacker... Ah well. On with this.**

* * *

April Fool's.

Halt had never heard of the day, even after coming to Araluen. It was general knowledge, the people assumed, and all countries acted upon it. So, how was he to know?

Halt, in fact, was feared by all the Rangers. Except for Crowley, but you know, paperwork and what not. The grizzled Ranger had never been pranked.

That was about to change.

Will came racing into his room. "Halt, Halt, come quick! The forest is on fire!" Wasting no time at all, the master jumped to his feet, gathered his materials, and went outside to assess the damage. G oing outside though, he saw that no trees were on fire.

"What is the meaning of this?" His apprentice followed him outside, and was currently cracking up.

"April Fools, Halt!" Will, at this point, was on the ground, bursting with laughter.

Halt merely raised an eyebrow. "April Fools? You've sure made a fool of yourself, Will. Now, would you kindly stop making up holidays, and get back to chores?"

An intake of air came from the apprentice. "You've **NEVER** heard of April Fool's day?"

Halt chuckled, "You're not getting away with it Will. There **IS** no such thing as April Fool's day."

As soon as he said that, Crowley appeared a few meters away. "Halt! Will! Get over here immediately! Morgarath is on the move!"

Halt looked down at Will. "You see Will, for once, our commandant is not messing around. He then turned back to Crowley, and said, "How do we know for sure?"

Crowley's face seemed to mask something, though what expression, Halt was unsure about. The commandant yelled, "Get over here and look! His army is **RIGHT THERE!**"

Master and apprentice scrambled to Crowley. The ranger then, after pointing vaguely into the distance, turned around and yelled, "April Fool's!"

Halt groaned. "He got you too?"

"What do you mean Halt?" The Commandant asked.

The reply received was, "Will's made up some holiday, and he's got you in the conspiracy."

Crowley shook his head. "It's real. Don't all kingdoms celebrate April Fool's?"

Halt grumbled under his breath, "I'm going to the Baron."

As he went to the Baron, the grizzled ra nger saw no signs of so called, "April Fool's" pranks.

As he got to the gates, a messenger ran by him, then slowed down, turned around, and went back to Halt. "Ranger, sir! The Baron has requested your presence in his office."

Halt nodded, climbed up spiraling stairc ases,and past grumbling guards, then arrived at the office. He knocked on the door, and after hearing a faint, "Come in, " he opened the door. There, the Baron sat. "Halt, good to see you. I see the messenger got to you?"

Halt nodded. "What did you need?"

Arald fidgeted," I need you to get three rolls of toilet paper, an amount of honey, and some of your coffee."

Curiously, the Ranger asked, "What do you need them for?"

"No matter. Just get them." The Baron replied.

* * *

After a few hours of tracking down toilet paper, he retrieved all the things on the checklist, and gave them to the Baron.

Arald nodded his approval, and then said , "Now, can you talk to Pauline? I haven't see her all day, and well, you know what they say about you and her."

Halt evenly replied, "No sir, I don't. Could you please tell me?'

Panicked, the Baron quickly replied, "No thing, nothing. Just talk to her, okay?"

The ranger shrugged, and went DOWN, and DOWN, and DOWN more stairs, then past MORE and MORE and MORE guards, until he reached Pauline's rooms. She wasn't there however, so he went to her office.

After going past more guards, and up some stairs, he knocked on her door, then heard a sniffle, before a "Come in." As unemotional as he is, Halt thought nothing of it, and went in.

* * *

Apparently, Pauline had some "emotional" problems, and Halt paid no attention to her rantings. He arrived at his cabin, and found a steaming cup of coffee, a jar of honey, which was surprisingly low on honey, and a note on the table. It read,

_Dear Halt,_

_I'm sorry for making up April Fool's day. Here is some coffee._

_From, Will._

Eagerly, Halt laced some honey into the coffee, and put it to his mouth to drink. Before he could, however, a net, made of toilet paper, and stuck together with honey fell on him.

Baron Arald, Will, Crowley, Gilan, and the Craftmasters (excluding Pauline) jumped out from the shadows and yelled, "April Fool's Halt!"

Halt's eyes snapped back to them, and he said, "Everyone, get in the Trees, except for Will, Gilan, and Crowley. The apprentice and friends breathed sighs of relief, before the Ranger continued, "You three, will be sitting in the creek, sipping **bitter**, **cold**, tea."

Crowley immediately protested. "Halt! Tea? Why?"

"Wait, Crowley, you're fine with Halt punishing you when YOU are the commandant?" Gilan asked.

Will jumped in at the sight of his friend doing so. "And why does it have to be bitter?"

Of course, a Halt glare silenced them all. "I suggest you get on with it, unless you want to be called 'Porcupine' in the afterlife." Everyone muttered agreement and got on with either brewing tea (the tea bags were courtesy of Master Chubb), or climbing in to trees.

Once all the conspirators were receiving their punishments, Halt chuckled to himself. However, a pair of footsteps sounded behind him, and a person drew breath to speak. Before they could, though, Halt spun around, and yelled,

"No! April Fool's is **NOT** a holiday!"

Of course, that's before he realized, the person he just yelled at was King Duncan.

* * *

To reviewers: This is currently a **oneshot**. Basically, only one thing, and no other chapters, if you're not familiar with fanfiction speak. It may be added onto with other holidays, and special occasions, but for now, oneshot.

And yes, I did put spaces randomly. Call it April Fool's, but since it is the 2nd, I changed it.


End file.
